Strikes to go ahead as unions attack 'farce' - WalesOnline

STRIKE action by hundreds of thousands of teachers, lecturers, civil servants and other public sector employees will go ahead after negotiations yesterday failed to resolve a pensions row.

As many as 750,000 workers from four trade unions are set to take part in a 24-hour walkout on Thursday in protest at UK Government plans to cut pensions, raise the retirement age and increase contributions.

Politicians last night called on unions not to go ahead with the industrial action, which will force thousands of schools in Wales and England to shut and disrupt Government services.

But unions said they had been left with no option but to go ahead with the mass walkout, and accused the Government of refusing to negotiate.

Dr Philip Dixon, Wales director of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said the union was committed to a first strike in its 127-year history because the Government had not entered into a "meaningful dialogue".

"They want to pick a fight and are not prepared to listen. Very sadly we will now be having a national strike on Thursday," he said. "The Government has left us no option, and there is going to be a lot of disruption on Thursday. That's the doing of the Westminster Government."

Mark Serwotka, leader of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, said yesterday's two-hour meeting between unions and ministers was a "farce" and raised the possibility of coordinated strike action with more unions later in the year.

The Unite, Unison and GMB unions are monitoring developments and may ballot members on action later in the year.

Mr Serwotka said: "On Thursday we will see hundreds of thousands of civil and public servants on strike and, on the experience of this meeting and the last few months of Government obstinacy, we fully expect to be joined by millions more in the autumn."

The talks were described as "constructive" by Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander, who called on unions not to strike ahead of a further meeting in July.

They expressed disappointment that Thursday's strike is going ahead. "We can assure the public that we have rigorous contingency plans in place to ensure that their essential services are maintained during the strike," they said.

"We are proposing they will be paid later because people live longer and that public sector staff will pay more, for a fairer balance between what they pay and what other taxpayers pay."

The TUC welcomed moves by the Government to meet again next month after ministers recognised the funding basis for local government workers was different.

General Secretary Brendan Barber said progress had been made, but there was still a "major gap" between the two sides on plans to increase the pension age, raise contributions and change the way pensions are determined from retail price index (RPI) to consumer price index (CPI) inflation.

David Evans, Wales secretary of the NUT, said: "The UK Government have gone into these talks with one thing firmly in their minds – to force through changes without a proper consultation process and without providing proper information that is needed.

"That is no big surprise but the unions themselves will still remain committed to seeing if we can continue to talk."

Unison leader Dave Prentis said they would await two further meetings in July before deciding whether to ballot for strikes.

Steve Belcher, regional organiser at Unison Cymru, said: "We are not in the dispute on Thursday but we fully support the decision to take action by other trade unions and the likelihood is we will be going down a similar route ourselves."

University and College Union General Secretary Sally Hunt said: "The average lecturer faces an increase of around £90 a month in exchange for reduced benefits."

A Welsh Government spokesman said pensions were "not a devolved matter and our focus is on minimising the impact of any industrial action on our public services."